Westmister Diary - 18th May 2006

Thursday, 18th May 2006

Watching or listening to the news in the last few weeks has been unlikely to make anyone feel safer. This week, we have learned that there were deficiencies in our intelligence and security networks which preceded the terrorist bombings in London on 7th July last year. Before that of course we have discovered that there are over 1000 convicted criminals, many of them dangerous or violent and all of them foreign citizens who are roaming our streets because instead of being deported at the end of their prison sentences, they were simply released.

This is a shocking failure of the government’s primary duty to keep us as safe as it can from those who wish to do our society harm. The former Home Secretary has, finally, paid the political price for his department’s inadequacies in this regard, but the problem remains. Many of the offenders in question are still to be traced and, as I have discovered recently, the system is failing on other ways.

There is a man, a citizen of another country who lived in Rugby until he committed a criminal offence and was imprisoned. An order for his deportation was made and should have been implemented in August of last year. He is still in this country, in immigration detention. While I accept this is better in many ways than if he was at liberty and untraced, the situation is appalling for three reasons. First, it demonstrates again chronic administrative incompetence. Travel documents were provided for him by the High Commission of his native country twice, but transport arrangements to take him out of the country were not made. Secondly, this man has no wish to stay in the UK and is indeed desperate to leave. Thirdly, his continued detention by the Immigration Service has so far cost the tax payer a completely unnecessary £14,000.

I have written to the new Home Secretary about his case and I know it is not the only one of its kind. Until such lunacy is dealt with, the public will not have confidence in the system which should deal with foreign criminals and we are unlikely to feel any safer.

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Updated on Thursday, 18th May 2006